BORO have agreed a contract extension to keep influential skipper Gary O'Neil at the Riverside Stadium.

The club are to exercise their option to initiate a two-year extension clause in O’Neil’s contract which will keep the midfielder at the club until the summer of 2012.

The news was confirmed by Boro’s chief executive Keith Lamb today.

It’s a timely piece of Christmas cheer for both manager Gordon Strachan and the club’s fans, especially as O’Neil would have otherwise become a free agent next summer.

It’s also a reverse trend by the Boro, whose delay in offering players new deals in the past has led to them losing key players and earned criticism from the fans.

Quite clearly Strachan, who values the massive contribution of O’Neil and regards him as one of the team’s vital members, has made an input into making sure the player is tied down for the future.

O’Neil also confirmed the news following Boro’s derby defeat at Newcastle, saying: “The club have decided to take up their option.

“I thought they would because, otherwise, I would have been available on a free transfer at the end of the season.”

When O’Neil completed a £4.5m move from Portsmouth in the summer of 2007, the contract was initially for three years but included the two-year extension clause option.

Last month the Gazette revealed that Boro had until December 31 this year to put the extension into place, otherwise O’Neil would have been able to walk away under freedom of contract for nothing in the summer.

It brought back memories of players such as Mark Viduka, Mark Schwarzer and Ross Turnbull, who were not tied down early enough and eventually all walked away on free transfers.

This is a situation nobody wanted to see repeated and that’s why the extension is good news all-round.

It also means that if Boro fail to win promotion this season and have to sell one or two star players next summer, then they will be in a strong position to demand a big fee for O’Neil.

Another key member of Strachan’s side, Adam Johnson, has so far declined to sign several offers of contract extensions which have been put on the table by the Boro.

This is a completely different situation to that of Turnbull for example, because Boro have been offering Johnson new offers for a long time since before he was even considered a first team regular.

The winger is expected to wait until next summer, when he will be out of contract, before considering his options.